Battle
Beneath the Waves : The U-Boat Warby Robert C. Stern
True stories featuring German submariners
It was the menace of the German submarines that so nearly brought defeat to the British in World War II. The U-Boats wreaked havoc on Allied merchant ships and their vital cargoes, but in turn suffered horrendous losses, vanquished by the superior tactics and dogged seamanship of their pursuers. Seventy per cent of U-Boat crewmen perished at sea. This is the story of the U-Boat wars, from 1914 to 1945, recreated from the experiences of German survivors, a tale of constant danger.
Hardcover - 272 pages Arms & Armour; ISBN: 1854092006

Black
MayMichael Gannon
U Boats in WW2 "... a serious military study but its narrative power
beats any fiction I have read in years." --Len DeightonAfter a year of terrorizing ships off the coast of the United States,
the tide turned against the U-boats in May 1943 when Allied forces sank
41 vessels and damaged 37 others. This frenzy of activity essentially reopened
the North Atlantic to merchant shipping and helped clear a path for the
Allies' final assault on Europe the following year.
Paperback - 560 pages (October 12, )Dell Pub Co; ISBN: 0440235642

Hitler's
U-Boat War: The Hunters, 1939-1942 (Modern Library War)by Clay Blair
A former infantryman, Adolf Hitler had little use for the German navy,
which he considered inept and politically suspect. Still, through the skillful
maneuverings of a young, up-and-coming naval officer named Karl DÃ¶nitz,
Hitler eventually endorsed a costly program of shipbuilding. As a result,
DÃ¶nitz was able to field a vast fleet of U-boats when Germany
went to war against France and England in 1939. Although his enemies were
initially better equipped, DÃ¶nitz was the craftier fighter,
launching daring raids on shipping convoys and Allied harbors, and for
a time, controlling the chief Atlantic sealanes.

In this monumental history, Clay Blair analyzes the German U-boat campaigns
from 1939 to 1942 (a companion volume continues his narrative to 1945),
which, he writes, fall into three phases: one against England alone, another
against the newly arrived American navy, and a furious third against the
combined Allied forces. Blair argues, against other historians, that the
"U-boat peril" has been overestimated. He holds that the American submarine
campaign against Japan in the Pacific was far more effective, and observes
that 99 percent of Allied merchant ships on transatlantic convoys reached
their destinations. Even so, the U-boats introduced a powerful element
of terror into an already horrific war, diverting Allied effort into antisubmarine
campaigns and delaying the transport of much-needed materiel.

Blair's outstanding work adds much to the naval history of World War
II. Packed with detail, it is sure to become a standard work on the Battle
of the Atlantic. --Gregory McNamee - Amazon.com(Paperback)

Memoirsby Karl Donitz
Sentenced to ten years at the Nuremberg Trials, Admiral Doenitz wrote
his memoirs upon his release. Introduced by two acclaimed historians who
knew Doenitz well, this invaluable work allows the reader to view the war
at sea through the periscope's eye.
Paperback - 554 pages (April )Da Capo Pr; ISBN: 0306807645

Operation
Drumbeat : The Dramatic True Story of Germany's First U-Boat Attacks Along
the American Coast in World War IIMichael Gannon
Historian Michael Gannon argues that the systematic assault by German
submarines on merchant tankers and freighters along the U.S. eastern seaboard
in 1942 "constituted a greater strategic setback for the Allied war effort
than did the defeat at Pearl Harbor." The case for the claim is intriguing
and includes a damaging assessment of the U.S. naval command, which ignored
information that might have allowed it to avert the disaster, but Gannon
never lets his argument distract from the compelling wartime story. Through
original interviews and archival research, he describes the exploits of
U-123 and its 28-year-old Lieutenant Commander Reinhard Hardegen, who terrorized
American home waters on two separate missions. Operation Drumbeat presents
a remarkable picture of life on the U-boats. (Fans of the movie Das Boot
especially won't want to miss it.) Gannon's book eventually may become
a classic work of naval history; for now it's a great book on a particular
aspect of the Second World War. --John J. Miller - Amazon.comPaperback - 528 pages (June 1991)HarperCollins (paper); ISBN: 0060920882

U-Boat
Ace : The Story of Wolfgang Luthby Jordan Vause
An exceptional figure in the history of the German Navy, Wolfgang Luth
was one of only seven men in the Wehrmacht to win Germany's highest combat
decoration, the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds. Amazon.comUnited States Naval Inst.Paperback - 264 pages